How much organic do you buy?

Today was the weekly trip to the grocery store. This is an event that is always plagued with a certain amount of guilt and anxiety. I am torn between buying the best possible produce for my baby and making it out of there without blowing half of my grocery budget on one visit.

The simple answer and the answer I would love to tell you is that there is no price on my baby’s, my, and my husband’s health. Being a food writer, a healthy food writer at that, that is what I feel like I should tell you. I have read all of the articles on how pesticides are slowly killing us and what’s more, I believe them. I think chemicals are causing most, if not, ALL of our health problems today. And yet….

I still don’t shop 100% organic.

From mid-April to November, a CSA provides the bulk of our family’s produce. During those months, I would say we eat 80-90% organic.

From November until the CSA starts, we are scrambling to find the best produce for our family. I love eating seasonally and locally, but we live in Wisconsin and I don’t like squash or other typical winter produce. It’s a problem.

With a small child, I don’t have the time or the energy to drive all over town to do my shopping. We go to one store (Woodman’s) for the bulk of our groceries and get our meats from other places (the CSA, Costco). I hear of other families driving to 3 or 4 different stores to get all of the organic stuff they need and I have to admit, just hearing about it wears me out.

My husband and I made the decision to raise our family on whole foods. We don’t buy anything processed. No chemicals, no pre-mades. No Cheerios, no rice puffs. We take it a step further and also try to limit her grains and eventually, we will not give her cow’s milk though she does eat other dairy (cow’s milk is for baby cows). These are all choices we have made based on our lifestyle and how we want our family to live.

And when I get to the store, I am filled with self-doubt. Would it be better for me to buy organic pre-mades? Am I hurting her by giving her produce that may have been treated with pesticides? Should I be driving all over town to get specialty stuff?

And when I start to think about that, I start to think, how long could I keep it up? Do we really want to spend THAT much money on organic food that doesn’t always taste as good as the regular stuff?

Yes, it’s true. I have spent way more money than I want to admit on green beans, mangoes, and apples, only to have them taste like nothing. And trust me, that does nothing to get Baby G excited about fruits and veggies.

For us to maintain our lifestyle, we have to make decisions that will aid in our success. In short, we don’t want to set ourselves up to fail. So, if we are going to continue feeding our family a whole foods diet, it’s not going to be 100% organic 100% of the time.

I would say we are moving towards a 50/50 split on organic/regular produce during the off season. During the summer, that may change, but I am not sure we will ever be 100%. And I think I am finally okay with that.

This is how we break it down:

Meats, dairy, and eggs: organic

Celery, strawberries, carrots, cucumbers, spinach: organic

Apples for Baby G: organic.

Apples for us: Varies.

The rest: depends on what we find at the store.

I would love to hear from you. Do you buy organic? What are your must-haves? What influences your decision? What do you think?

6 Comments on "How much organic do you buy?"

I’m trying to increase our organic intake gradually as more becomes available at competitive prices. I’d like to think we eat 50% organic, but when I look in my cupboards, refrigerator and freezer, it’s more like 25%.
Most important is fruits and vegetables. I concentrate on avoiding the so called “dirty dozen” non-organic produce–apples, greens, berries, etc.

When we belonged to a CSA and could also buy organic eggs, chickens, and beef, we were probably at the 50% organic mark. But the CSA and chicken/egg producers folded so we’re back down to about 25%.

But every week I look more at more at organic options. My latest focus is on dried herbs and spices.

This is, in my opinion, the most expensive time of the year to buy fresh fruits and vegetables in Wisconsin. Price is a huge factor in what/when we buy organic, as we are on a tight budget (purchased a new home in the fall and have two kids in daycare). We do break it down into different stores, which ends up saving us a large amount of money, so it’s very much worth the additional effort. We do a twice a month shop at Woodman’s for staples, and shop weekly at the Willy Street coop (especially for the bulk section) and Trader Joe’s. You might want to scout out Trader Joe’s one day and do a price comparison on things that may be cheaper there than at Woodman’s (e.g., especially with regard to organic stuff). In the summer, we have a CSA and buy most of our produce at the farmers’ market, and our yearly food budget accounts of us spending much less in the summer and spending much more this time of year. We generally base what we buy organic on the dirty dozen when we have to buy in non-farmers’ market months, and we try to incorporate lots of frozen fruits/vegs as well this time of year to cut down on costs.

I am so glad that both of you brought up the dirty dozen.
For those of you who don’t know, the dirty dozen is a dozen types of produce that are worst for pesticides than others, so you should always try to go organic. They are:
Apples
Strawberries
Grapes
Celery
Peaches
Spinach
Sweet bell peppers
Nectarines
Cucumbers
Potatoes
Cherry tomatoes
Hot peppers

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I am currently writing another book, The Idiot's Guide to Making Your Own Baby and Toddler Food. This will be out on November 3, 2015.

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